Fighting shotguns have become very popular in
recent years. With home invasions on the rise, more and more
people are realizing the need to have a good home defense plan,
and having the necessary hardware to defend the home from those
who would do us harm. Up close and personal, there is nothing
that beats a good shotgun in the hands of a person with limited
gun-handling skills. For highly-trained professionals, there are
some military-grade weapons that might be better in certain
circumstances, but even that is arguable. My late father-in-law,
SGT. Charles Jerles, a veteran of the Korean and Vietnam wars,
preferred to carry a shotgun in the jungle. He told me that it
was very effective against the enemy in the close-up conflicts
in the jungle, and was much quicker at ending a fight than was
the M16.

There are a few very modern shotguns on the
market that are purpose-built for fighting. The SRM,
UTAS, and Kel-Tec
shotgun videos that we have made are some of our most popular to
date. While these are very good weapons, a shotgun of standard
pump configuration does just as well in almost every situation,
and it does so in a simpler design that costs a lot less to
purchase, and that brings us to the subject of this review; the
Armscor M5 shotgun. Having reviewed Armscor products here
before, such as the Rock Island
22 TCM 1911 pistol,I expected it to be a quality
shotgun, so I ordered the M5 with confidence from Gallery
of Guns.

The M5 is based upon the old High Standard
Flite King design, but unlike the sporting versions of that
design, the M5 is purpose-built for fighting. I recently came
across a great deal on the M5 from Davidson’s Gallery of Guns,
and I ordered five of them. I issued one to my son-in-law, and
the other four will serve here as home-defense weapons, placed
strategically around the home. Davidson’s is a large firearms
distributor, selling directly to gun dealers around the nation.
However, through their Gun Genie on Gallery of Guns ( www.galleryofguns.com
) anyone can place an order. When doing so, the Gun Genie will
give the purchaser several buying options from dealers in their
area. The price is listed from each dealer, along with any
applicable taxes, background fees,and shipping costs. The purchaser picks the gun up at the
local dealer of his choice, filling out the required paperwork.
The buyer pays a deposit online, and the balance when picking up
the firearm from the local dealer. This way, the buyer gets a
great deal, as dealers are competing for his business, and there
are no hidden fees nor taxes. Going onto Gallery of Guns, I
poked in my ZIP code, and received several offers from dealers
within twenty-five miles of my location. The gun prices on the
Parkerized version of the M5 varied from a low of$189.19 to a high of $221.99, not including the shipping,
tax, and transfer fees. The totals, including all fees and taxes,
ran from $232.64 to $269.03 US. For a quality fighting shotgun,
this M5 is a real bargain. The matte nickel version of the M5 is
only about eight dollars more, so I opted for that. Of course,
buying more than one reduces the shipping and transfer fees per
gun, making the M5 an even better deal.

Back to the shotgun, the M5 is a very
well-built shotgun. It holds five rounds in the magazine, for a
total capacity of six rounds at the ready. The black synthetic
buttstock has storage for two more shotshells. The M5 uses both
two-and-three-quarter and three-inch shotshells. It loads
through the bottom, like most pump guns, and a shotgun of this
style allows the magazine to be topped-off during a fight, if
necessary. In other words, when the situation allows, another
shell or two can be placed into the magazine without taking the
gun out of the fight. A plus for the M5 is that when the bolt is
closed, the shell lifter (carrier) is in the upward position,
making it really easy to thumb another shell into the magazine,
without having to push up on a spring-loaded lifter.

The Armscor M5 is a heavy-duty shotgun, built
for hard use. The weapon is built primarily of steel, with
synthetic buttstock and forearm. The cylinder-bore barrel is
threaded into the steel receiver. It does not simply slide in,
as with most pump guns. The M5 has twin action bars, and this is
absolutely the smoothest action on any pump shotgun that I have
ever fondled or fired. No twisting nor binding, just a really
slick action, and a very good trigger pull as well. The M5
weighs in at seven pounds, fourteen ounces on my scale,
balancing and handling very well. The twenty-inch barrel is
fitted with a brass bead sight, and the aforementioned heat
shield. For those who prefer a more-visible tritium night sight,
XS Sights makes a dandy Big
Dot sight that fits right over top of the bead. The
synthetic buttstock holds two shells in reserve, and has a
synthetic rubber butt pad. The forearm is heavily grooved for a
positive hold, and is very comfortable to use.The overall length measures 39.375 inches, and the M5 has
a 13.75 inch length of pull.The trigger pull measures a bit over five pounds on my
resistance gauge, but feels much lighter, due to its smoothness.

The matte nickel plating looks great,
contrasting nicely with the black buttstock, forearm, and
black-anodized. aluminum trigger guard. The heat shield over the
barrel is a cool touch, in more ways than one. It protects the
shooter’s hand from a hot barrel, and it just looks pretty
cool, as well. For those who want a darker finish, the M5 is
also available in a matte black Parkerized finish, as noted
above. The bolt is jeweled on both models.

I fired the Armscor M5 shotgun on paper and
steel targets using slugs, buckshot, and birdshot. The only
loads that were painful to shoot were the ones that are always
painful to shoot; the three inch turkey loads. These heavy loads
throw as much shot with each pull of the trigger as two 12 gauge
target loads, so the gun is going to back up a bit. One trick
that I learned long ago when testing a bunch of turkey loads was
to hold the shotgun slightly off the shoulder. We have always
been told to hold the shotgun firmly to the shoulder to reduce
felt recoil, but I have found that holding the shotgun in an
isometric two-hand hold, similar to holding a handgun, helps a
lot. Push forward with the strong hand, while pulling rearward
with the support hand, holding the weapon a couple of inches off
the shoulder. It works. Anyway, back to the M5, every type of
shotshell tried functioned flawlessly through the smooth action.
There were no failures of any kind.

There are several rumors bantered about, by
gun shop commandos and on the internet. One is that birdshot is
useless for defense. This
is false. At across-the-room distances, a load of birdshot
is very effective, yet if it passes through an apartment wall,
it loses power quickly, reducing the danger to neighbors.
Another myth is that the mere sound of racking a shotgun slide
will make any attacker piss his pants and run off. This is
ridiculous and dangerous. Before engaging an intruder, the
chamber should be loaded. Racking the slide to scare off an
intruder gives away your position, and reduces your capacity by
one shotshell. The attacker should hear nothing, and maybe just
see a flicker of muzzle flash before his brain shuts down.One last mistake that many shotgun owners believe,
because they have been told this by “experts” is that you
just point the shotgun in the general compass direction of your
target, and you can take out everything in that ZIP code. This
is also false. A shotgun has to be pointed accurately,
especially a home-defense shotgun that is used most likely at a
distance of seven yards or closer. With a cylinder-bore twelve
gauge shooting buckshot or heavy birdshot, the spread will be
about the size of your hand, or tighter, across a typical
bedroom.

Dealing with the capacity of the M5, lots of
folks think that they have to have the latest and greatest
modern shotgun with a shell capacity of a dozen or more. Those
shotguns are nice. I like them, and own a KSG myself, but
realistically, I don’t think that I need a shotgun with that
much capacity, and I keep my standard pump guns loaded around
the house. The M5 shotgun has a loaded capacity of six, is very
easy to load on-the-go, and should serve well. There is no
provision to attach a magazine extension, but none is needed,
except for competitive shooters. In the real world, I am
perfectly happy with six rounds of number 4 or 00 buck loaded in
the M5.

Shooting the M5 was a real pleasure. It
functioned flawlessly with every type of shotshell fed it, with
the exception of one three inch Hornady turkey load empty shell
that stuck in the chamber, which might have been my fault: the
M5 comes packed heavily in grease, and I might not have cleaned
the chamber adequately. However, every other shell worked
perfectly, even other Hornady turkey loads, so it also might
have been a problem with that one shell.

The M5 is easier to load than most other pump
shotguns on the market. It is easier to work the action than
most other pump shotguns on the market. It is easier on the
wallet than most other pump shotguns on the market. That last
feature is very important to most of us. Many times, gun writers
are lost on the significance of price when it comes to buying
weapons, as we usually get a pretty good deal on the latest and
greatest guns on the market. However, to a young father with a
mortgage, a car payment, and a family to feed and clothe, price
is important. To a single mom trying to make a living for
herself and the kids, but needing a home defense weapon, price
is important. The good thing about the M5 is that we do not have
to sacrifice quality to get a good price. Armscor makes their
firearms in the Philippines, and they use quality materials
assembled with skilled craftsmanship. The M5 shotgun is a fine
choice at any price, but it doesn’t hurt that it costs less
than the competition. I like it, I use it, and I highly
recommend it.

Check out the M5 and other Armscor/Rock
Island firearms and accessories online at www.armscor.com.